


Half in Shadow

by zinger17



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, future swanfire, in which Neal doesn't actually die, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-04
Updated: 2014-10-12
Packaged: 2018-02-19 19:29:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2400155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zinger17/pseuds/zinger17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which opening the Dark One's vault doesn't result in Neal's death.<br/>And unfortunately, he's the only one who is aware of this information.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“My boy, remember when you where small? It was a night during the Ogre’s War. There was a terrible noise, the horse’s thundering down the dusty path. You crawled into my bed and I could still here your little voice. ‘Papa, I’m afraid’.” 

Oh, he was gonna kill that man. 

No jury would ever convict him. It was just too damn frustrating. Constantly being torn between crushing his ridiculous father to his chest and never letting go and smacking some sense through his thick scull would drive anyone to madness.

Yeah, just as soon as he could, you know, use his arms again, patricide was going to be promptly committed. What the hell had papa been thinking?!  
Neal Cassidy, incorporal extraordinaire, grimly glared down at the object of his ire. Rumpelstiltskin crouched in front of Neal’s grave- and wasn’t that trippy, staring down at your own damn burial ground- his clasped hands twisting nervously. 

“And now, through Belle, there’s love in my life again. And once more, I’ve started it with a lie. She thinks she has the real dagger.” 

“Yeah, already clued into that, papa,” Neal groused, still glaring. “Since I’m a part of the damn thing now!” 

Seriously, when was someone going to discover that far from killing the person bearing the mark of the Dark One, it made them a part of the curse itself? The bearer’s soul became bound to the dagger, enslaved to it’s magic. Neal could no more die than Rumpelstiltskin could. Storybrooke was overflowing with magical beings, witches, fairies- somebody had to get a clue soon!

Neal ground his teeth. He hated that dagger more than anything in all the realms he’d traveled. It was the thing that stole his loving papa from him. It was the thing papa clung to while letting his hand go over a swirling green portal. It was thing that haunted his dreams at night. And now…now it was a part of him, branded onto his skin. He’d felt it the moment his ridiculous, ridiculous father had swapped it out for the fake ass one and he was going to kill that man. 

As though he could hear Neal’s futile shouts and curses, Rumple’s eye’s filled and his voice began to shake as he fished the jagged weapon bearing his name out of his jacket and held it up like some kind of sick offering before his son’s grave. 

“I only lied to her in order to avenge your death. And now that I’ve done so, I really need the strength to give it back, to be the man I should be, the man you died for.” 

Despite himself, Neal already felt himself softening toward his father. Yeah, he’d felt it when papa tricked Belle. But he’d also felt when Zelena ordered him to kill Belle. And to hurt Hook and threaten Robin’s kid and all sorts of shit Neal really, really didn’t want to think about.

“Your heroism showed me the way. I promise, I’ll spend my life repaying you for that.” 

“Oh papa,” Neal sighed, anger draining away. “You didn’t have to lie to her.” 

Killing Zelena…god, he got that. Check. She threatened Henry. Neal could kill her for that himself. No one tried to hurt his son. 

But he shouldn’t have lied to Belle about it. Neal had seen her face the moment papa had proposed- love, joy, trust. A lie belonged nowhere near a moment like that. 

“She might have understood. You didn’t tell her. You didn’t give her a chance!” Neal insisted to his father’s back as he turned and slowly started walking away. 

Neal allowed himself to be dragged along in the dagger’s wake, away from the gravesite. God, it sucked to be stuck with that damn thing, unable to get away from it. 

Okay, okay. Maybe he won’t kill his father when he gets his body back Neal decided as they trudged to the Cadillac. To Belle. 

Maim... maybe. But kill him no.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Neal is stressed, the newlyweds are oblivious, and Rumple takes one step forward and two steps back.

On a list of situations he never thought he’d ever find himself in, committing a little daytime B and E alongside his parents on their honeymoon…pretty much right at the top. Directly after tap dancing alongside Anthony Stewart Head and James Marsters. 

Pretty damn pathetic, when the thought of carousing with watchers and vampires was just as weird as spending some quality time with the rents but there is was. Still, the whole kinda dead but really not thing…that was definitely a curve ball, even by his standards. 

Actually, the way things here are progressing, a little bit of tap dancing with dancing demons might be preferable to this state of affairs. 

“Oh my god, you two have no idea how to do subtle do you?” Neal groans as Rumpelstiltskin and Belle abandon the Cadillac beside the house, plainly visible from the road. Belle eagerly pulls his father along by the hand, obliviously dragging him along with them. They’re also oblivious to his increasingly loud warnings as they fumble along, clearly having the time of their lives cheerfully committing a major felony. 

“Careful! Don’t trip any alarms! Belle, stop giggling and pay attention! If Emma gets called out here it’s gonna get really awkward really fast guys. Do you want to get arrested the day after your wedding?!” God, this is stressful.

When the ridiculous, starry eyed teenagers masquerading as his parents finally stop sniggering, leaning into each other’s spaces, and exchanging long, significant glances- yeah, this was making him nervous, very, very, very nervous- long enough to get through the front door, Neal doesn’t wait for the pull of the dagger to compel him. He hurries inside ahead of them, quickly checking out the surroundings, as the newlyweds have neglected that rather important step in their crime. Turning about, he glares daggers- ha, ha- at his father. 

“You broke into my apartment. I know you, it can’t have been the first time. Why are you so bad at this?” 

His plaintive question falls on deaf ears of course and the trio pushes further into the house. 

House is a really poor word to describe the massive home, though. This is a mansion, practically a castle. Much bigger than Papa’s which makes Neal smirk. He tries not to gawk as Belle shows Papa around, chattering about her discoveries. “Wonder who’s this is,” Neal mutters, bending over to inspect the fireplace. 

Maybe he can communicate somehow because mere seconds later, Belle voices his query. “I wonder who this belonged to?” his now stepmother asks his very quiet father. “Come on take a look around!” Belle casually tosses her bag onto a chair. “It is spectacular; you can see the ocean from nearly every room…” 

Snap.

Magic crackles, dancing over Neal’s skin, making him jump. It sizzles across the room like lighting and Belle freezes into place. 

Rumpelstiltskin stands still, hand still in the air staring at Belle’s motionless form. Neal mirrors his father for a moment before finding his-completely useless- voice again. 

“What the fuck?!” 

His father unzips Belle’s pretty, black bag digging through it, unaware of his irate audience. 

“What are you doing? What the fuck are you doing!? You’re using magic on Belle! You asshole! You think this is honoring my memory, you fucking…what?” 

Rumpelstiltskin is unwrapping the fake dagger- and oh, that’s making him even madder, damn him- and…replacing it with the real one? Wait, what? He’s so confused he almost misses his father’s hushed mummer. 

“If we’re going to do this… we’re going to do it properly.”   
Snap.

Belle’s cheerful chatter continues as if it had never left off and Neal is left teetering between fierce pride and pure, undulated rage. He reaches up and yanks furiously at his hair. 

“You…you…you can’t just go around freezing people, god Papa!!” 

Well, at least he gave Belle the real dagger. That was good. But he’s still not telling her the truth about proposing with a fake one. That was bad. 

It’s a step. A baby step, but a step nonetheless. He’s trying. Papa’s trying and maybe it’ll all work out for the best. 

Relaxing, Neal turns his attention back on his parents just in time to see the way his father looks at a weird ass decoration on the table in front of him. 

Like he looked at the dagger. Like when he looked at magic. With a longing, manic, dangerous glint in his eyes. 

Fuck.


End file.
